Dreamwalker: The Intrusion
by Jj David Lee
Summary: The first book of the Dreamwalker saga. What happens if a ridiculous legend told by your grandfather suddenly came true and you have no means of controlling it? First chapter up for view and comments. Please R&R. Rated T for safety.
1. The Corridor of Dreams

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Chrono Cross. Wish I do though.

**Author's Notes: **Hey, guys. This is butcherthegirl here (odd name, I know) going on an attempt to write a Chrono Cross SI fanfic. It had always been a dream for me to hurl myself into the world of video games. This game was one of my favorites other than Final Fantasy IX. I simply just loved it.

I'm just posting the first chapter for view. Not sure whether will I continue this soon. I just wanted to know how you guys felt about this opening. The plot is still incomplete yet, and so is the whole background of the Chrono Cross world. I already have several concepts on explaining the Element system in words… Still, any help will be greatly appreciated.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Be sure to drop a review and let me know about how you felt! Sorry if there are any errors. English is not my first language, see.

In the mean time, please check my other work: Afterlife Tales as well! Thanks a bunch!

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**Chapter One: The Corridor of Dreams**

It was raining gently outside. The air was cool, just the way I liked it, serving a relaxing atmosphere as I finished a game called 'Chrono Cross' via an emulator in my computer and watched the credits rolled. I always liked it whenever it rained during emotional moments. Watching a good game's ending while listening to its awesome music was definitely one of these moments.

I laid back on my chair as I closed my eyes and listened to the melody of the game. The thing about Chrono Cross was its ending music always had this enigmatic feeling, like it made you wanting to stop time and recollect sweet memories, or disappearing into nothingness. I couldn't describe the sensation in words. It was just awesome.

This was not the first time I finished the game. I had played it for countless times as far as I could remember. It's like I was addicted to it. But thankfully, so far it hadn't affected my grades. I couldn't imagine the expression on my parents' faces if that happened.

I sighed as I closed the emulator and switched off my computer. I then threw myself on my bed, hugging a pillow and trying my best to sleep. I was always looking forward to my dreams. They were mostly me living adventures in worlds of my favorite video games, especially Chrono Cross. But the disappointing part was I never get to really complete the journey. I was always stuck at somewhere at the beginning or some place I didn't recognized. My friends thought I had too much dosages of Chrono Cross.

"Hey Grayson, spent another night in El Nido Archipelago again?"

Yeah. That had always been a common question my friends used to make fun of me. Screw them. It's not like everyone had a chance to dream about their favorite video games, right?

A powerful desire stirred inside me. I wanted to have a real adventure, a real, complete adventure from the beginning until the very end of the story and not just bits and pieces of it. I once slept too much and ended up having insomnia as a result of trying to get in my dream world.

But things had been strange recently. Unlike the usual dreams where I was in a video game world, I began to have a new dream for the past six days. Yeah, the same dream over and over again. It had been recurring for six days straight and I had not idea what was going on. I just hoped for it to leave me alone so I could get back in dreaming about my fantasies.

It was a dream where I was in a dark, endless corridor. The corridor was illuminated by dim light from torches at the walls. The floor was made of polished marble. On both sides of the corridor were innumerable doors of different sizes and different designs. I was always in the middle of the corridor, unsure whether should I take the front or rear path. At first it was freaking me out, but later it turned out to be pretty boring with me walking endlessly down the corridor. No, I hadn't opened one of the doors. I just didn't feel like it. Usually I would just wake up after I got tired of walking past doors after doors. And that just sucked.

A knock on my bedroom door pulled me out of my thoughts. I sat up as Mom's voice called out to me.

"Seth! Your grandfather's here!" she informed enthusiastically before leaving down the stairs.

Ah, yes, Grandpa. I almost forgot that he was visiting us today. I was always fond of him, and he felt the same towards me. Grandpa had been telling me fantasy tales of his ever since I was three, or some legends which he claimed to have been passed down in our family from our forefathers. I wondered what story he brought with him this time.

I quickly grabbed a white sweater with a hood and wore it before heading downstairs to the living room. There he was, sitting by the couch and greeting me with a warm smile. Bald, grey hair; face full of wrinkles; that's Grandpa alright.

"Hey, Seth, my boy!" he greeted warmly. "How've you been lately?"

"Same as always," I said with a chuckle as I sat down to the couch beside him.

"Still having dreams of you wandering in your video game worlds?" Grandpa guessed.

"Well, not anymore since recently," I replied disappointingly.

"Wow!" he looked at me in surprise. "Never thought I hear that coming from you! I always thought you wouldn't grow up." He ended up laughing.

"Grandpa, I'm seventeen!" I protested. "I am grown up!"

"I know, I know," he chuckled.

I spent the rest of the afternoon telling Grandpa about recent issues in my school. He had always been a good listener: quiet and understanding. Whenever I had problems, he always managed to help me solve them with his experiences in life. Well, all except for my love life. I wanted to keep that private.

"Amanda's not still forcing you to play basketball, is she?" Grandpa asked.

"She is," I answered. Mom always tended to have me go play basketball with my friends all the time. She was trying to get me through rehab from video games, I guessed. Thankfully, it was now raining season and I had couldn't be happier to stay indoors and sat in front of my comp. My friends told me I was good at basketball and had recommended me to transfer to the Basketball Club instead of staying in dull, boring Literature Club. But I didn't, of course. They would have force me on the team and there will be lesser time for me to spend playing video games with.

"She's just concerned," Grandpa said. "Although you seem to be doing pretty fine in your studies. I'm impressed."

"Thanks."

"So, anything interesting happened recently?" he continued to ask.

"Well…" my mind fell on the recurring dream I had been having for the past six days. "There's one, but it's not that all interesting. It's a bit more…weird than interesting, you can say."

"Fill me in," Grandpa said with a curious smile.

"There's this dream I've been having for the past six days. It's not like the previous ones where I dream about video game worlds…" I began to elaborate.

I spent the next five minutes telling Grandpa about the strange dream with that endless corridors and weird doors. I expected him to laugh at it, but he didn't. Instead, he continued to listen as if amused.

"So, you've been dreaming about the same thing? For six days straight? You sure?" he asked.

"I'm certain of it," I said confidently. I'd been counting, really.

"You know, that reminds me of an old legend passed down in our family tree," Grandpa said, his hand on his chin. "Do you want to know?"

"Definitely," I said almost immediately.

Grandpa cleared his throat. It was a trend of his whenever he was telling a story, or legend, whatever. I listened intently as he began to tell his so called legend.

"Long ago during the time of our ancestors, it is said that a kind of power existed in them. It was rare, not all of them have that power. They think the power could only be awaken in chosen members of the family. Some theorized that it might have been a special trait in their blood. But no one knows for sure," he said.

"So, what is this…power?" I asked, my heart surging with more curiosity than I could have imagined.

"The power, or ability to enter into dream worlds," Grandpa explained. "It is said that one could just walk into his own dream with full consciousness. It was an amazing thing to do. They said you can even stay there, live there. There, you bring your full mind and senses with you. You can feel pain, heat, cold, or emotions like hatred and love. It was like living in another reality. But it is also said that one cannot alter his or her dream world. Dream worlds differ in many ways and never share the same shape. Still, it was an extraordinary power to have. They call the people with this ability 'Dreamwalkers'. Instead of walking outside your dream, you walk inside the dream. Of course, this was just an old legend."

"Whoa," I said in an amazed tone. "So, these people could just literally walk in and out of their dream world? Like, whenever they feel like it?"

"That, I don't know. The legend never explained how the Dreamwalkers' ability works," Grandpa placed a hand on my shoulder and chuckled. "Don't get you hopes too high, kiddo!" He laughed.

"I'll take my chances," I joked. It sounded ridiculous enough. I mean, walking into your own dream, just how odd is that? It was a dumb legend, but one that actually caught my interest. For a moment, I wanted to try it. Too bad the legend didn't contain the system on how the dream world entering works. If not, I would be in Chrono Cross right now, stepping my feet on Opassa Beach's shores and hitting Serge's face with a fish. Not sure why I wanted to do that though.

"Would you look at the time!" Grandpa suddenly exclaimed as he examined his wristwatch. "Your Granny would be real upset if I don't make it home for dinner. In case you forgot, today's our seventieth wedding anniversary." He finished with a chuckle.

_Oh, right, it was that day again._

"Better hurry, then," I reminded him with a smile. I wouldn't want to hear Granny yelling through the phone asking where the hell is Grandpa.

"Leaving already, Dad?" Mom asked as she entered into the living room.

"Yeah, gotta get back to your mother and have our wedding anniversary dinner," he said as he sat up and left for the door, grabbing his umbrella and opened it up. Mom opened the door for him and he took a few steps down the paves before turning around and said, "Goodbye Amanda! And you too, Seth! Take care of your mother now."

"Will do," I replied, grinning. The house didn't usually have this much noise, considering it was only me and Mom most of the time. Dad passed away in a car crash back when I was little. Mom had been working harder since to pay my school fees. And I had been getting excellent grades in my academics in return for her efforts. Mom was very proud of it, but she wasn't very fond of my gaming habit though. Still, I loved her very much. She was a great mother.

Night came and we had our dinner. It was still raining outside. It would be pretty comfortable later when I sleep. All the better when I had my wonderful dreams. I hoped it wouldn't be that damn corridor again.

_I still hadn't open one of the doors, had I? _I thought as I lay on my bed, hugging a pillow in my arms. _You sure you want to let this dream go, Seth Grayson?_

Well, maybe one last time, I decided. It would suck if I never find out what's behind the doors. Even if it was only one of them, that would be enough. Then I can continue wandering my mind off Chrono Cross or any other games…

It sure felt like a long while before I fell asleep. All of a sudden, I was back in the middle of an endless corridor, basked in the dim light of the torches' flames. I began to walk pointlessly down the passage while examining the doors. Certain enough, the doors never seemed to recur. Each of them was individually special. Some of them had weird shapes. Some of them had weird colors, like puke green or dung-like brown. Some of them even smelled like rotten eggs.

After what seemed like hours, I finally settled down on one door. It stood out among all the others. The door was half white and half black, kinda like Yin and Yang, I guessed. What interested me more was the face painted on it. The face was white and had a radiant smile on the black side of the door while on the white side, it was black and its lips were curved downwards. The white side of the face looked as if it was alive and had flesh, like a real human face and was filled with positive emotions. On the other hand, the black side looked dead and decayed, like a half skull and filled with negative emotions.

I felt pretty ominous staring at this door.

_Let's just push it open and get this over with._

The door had no doorknobs or handles, so I had to place both of my hands on the door, one at each side and pushed the thing ajar. I then walked through the door curiously, only to find a room filled with darkness.

"Great, just what I need, a room full of _nothing,_" I grumbled as I ran a hand through my hair. "I should have chosen a different door…"

I was beginning to feel disappointed and bored when suddenly the floor underneath me just disappeared. I yelled from the sudden drop. I was falling into what seemed like a bottomless depth. But I could feel a cool breeze brushing against my face. It almost smelled like…the sea.

It was not long before I sank into what felt like sea water. The water was stone cold, like when you take a bath at four in the morning. I hated that kind of cold. I struggled to swim up to the surface. My face broke the surface of the water, grasping for air. But it was only a split second before I sank back down into the sea.

I just realized I couldn't swim.

_Crap, should've taken the swimming lessons… _I thought as panic took over me. My lungs felt like they were burning and my head hurt greatly. Water began to leak into my nostrils and mouth as I struggled to float on the water. I knew struggling would only make things worse, but I was too panicked at the moment. Everything was pitch black. It was horrible.

Was it just me? Or was this dream a little…real?

What I meant was, more real than usual. I could feel the pain of drowning, the dizziness in my head…

"_There, you bring your full mind and senses with you." _Grandpa's voice passed through my mind.

It couldn't be. It was impossible, but it seemed like the only explanation for the realness behind this dream.

I was a Dreamwalker.

If that had been true, then I was dead for sure. Why did this happen to me? Why had the Dreamwalker ability awaken now during this dream? Why couldn't it happen while I was dreaming something else? Screw this whole Dreamwalker legend. I just wished I wasn't born in this family, and then I wouldn't have somehow inherited this legendary power.

My life began to flash before my eyes. Everything: school, friends, the girl I had a crush on, my dead father, Mom, Grandpa, Granny… I wondered how Mom will feel, finding her son dead in the middle of his sleep for no apparent reason. I wondered what's it like dying when your whole mind and senses and, possibly, soul was in the dream state. Probably the me back in reality would end up in a comatose state and never wake up, or stop breathing, or vanished without a trace. I just couldn't guess.

My consciousness was fading fast when all of a sudden an arm pulled me by the collar, choking me for a moment. Someone was trying to save me, I thought. If he was, I might get choked to death before he could even pull me up shore. Thankfully, he seemed to have realized that and wrapped his arm around my chest instead.

Seconds later, my face broke the sea's surface. I breathed greedily for air. I never thought there comes a time when I will feel the preciousness of oxygen. It was enough for me to stay alive, but not enough for me to keep myself from passing out.

As I was pulled ashore, I heard a voice calling out to me, but the state I was in made it sounded like it was buzzing. My head felt really dizzy at the moment. My vision blurred. And I fainted.


	2. The Foreshadow

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Chrono Cross.

**Author's Notes: **Chapter two is locked and loaded, people! And yay, I got my first review! ^_^

Thanks to ZShock for placing the first review in the Dreamwalker saga. Much appreciated for that, man. And more thanks to the people who put this on alerts.

I'm just so in the mood to write this now. The next update may come up sooner than I estimated. But I have to work on my other work either. Afterlife Tales was my first SI fic ever, it meant a lot to me so I'm really determined to finish that too! Check it out too if you guys have spare time!

I hope you all enjoy this chapter. This one only have a little fight scene in it. So, I apologize in advance for the lack of actions. But I promise I will make up for it later. :P

And dropping a review after this will make me go hyper and update even faster. Of course, I will still update this even if you don't…

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**Chapter Two: The Foreshadow**

I was in the middle of a huge crater-like area, staring at a tall building towering over me. It looked like some sort of fort. There were dragon statues made of stone erected around the structure. Somehow, I felt like I had been here before.

It was a minute before I recognized this tower as Fort Dragonia from Chrono Cross.

Before I knew it, my legs took me inside the building and stepped on a platform. The platform had a strange symbol on it: a purple sphere containing six tinier spheres in black. Each of them was arranged strategically in order and was connected to another black sphere in the middle.

In front of me was a stand. It looked like some kind of device. The boy beside me stepped forward and pressed his hand against one of the panels on the device. I observed the boy in silent as the platform escalated upwards magically.

The boy was Serge, the silent protagonist of Chrono Cross. He never spoke in the game, not once, for some reasons. It's not like he was mute. But the people around him tend to understand what he wanted to express. Either he was telepathic or the people in this game were really good at reading lips.

Serge had short, dark blue hair and had a red bandana wrapped around his head, leaving a few fringes to stick out. He had eyes that inherited the azure of the sea. If I was not mistaken, Serge lived in a fishing village called Arni. His skin was tanned, probably a result from years of fishing under the sun. He had a fine build and was slightly shorter than me. He wore a black shirt under his long leather vest. A brown belt was buckled around his waist, holding the leather vest in place. He wore a pair of blue Bermuda shorts imprinted with Arnian patterns and leather boots for legs. And in his hands was a large weapon, longer than his height, I assumed. It was the swallow: a double bladed weapon. It was kinda like two curved-shaped blades stuck on each end of a strong wooden stick.

He was quiet like he was in the game. Not even a word was heard from him as we escalated to the topper region of the fort. All was silent except for the impatient foot tapping noises the girl beside me was making. The girl had blonde hair tied into a ponytail.

She was known as Kid. I was not sure if that was her real name, but whatever.

Kid wore…lesser cloths than normal girls did. She wore a short-sleeved, unbuttoned red jacket that merely reached her belly on top of a white singlet of the same measure, leaving her slim waist well exposed. Adding to that, she wore a short red skirt that matched her jacket, and it was only a few inches past her hips. A purple necklace with the shape like a comma joined together with purple spheres was around her neck. Like Serge, Kid had azure eyes, too. She brought along a sheathed dagger that looked handcrafted. The blade was more like a tooth of some dinosaur: curved and sharp.

There was another person in our company: a silver haired young man in the armor of a knight. He must be Glenn. I recognized the cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. He had a round buckler attached to his left hand and carried around a sheathed sword. Glenn had always looked like a calm, serious guy to me.

Before I realized it, the platform stopped moving. A gate cranked open before us. Kid and Glenn were the first one to step out with me following behind.

_Looks like everything's back to normal. _I thought.

This was definitely one of the dreams I had been having about Chrono Cross. I was glad it was back. No more spooky corridor with weird doors and rooms that try to drown people. For a while back there, I thought that the whole Dreamwalker legend actually came true.

"What is it, Serge? You look troubled," Glenn asked as he noticed Serge was still on the platform. "This is it. There's no turning back, now!"

Hypothetically, I thought I knew the reason for Serge's worried look. But I kept it to myself. I couldn't talk anyway whenever I was having this dream even if I wanted to. It would be just like moving your lips with no voice coming out of it. That sucked.

"Oi! C'mon Serge, Glenn!" Kid exclaimed up ahead. She held a gloved fist up as if in victory and proclaimed to the empty air. "Just you wait, Lynx! Today's gonna be the day of your reckonin'! Say yer prayers! …Not that it'll do ya any good!"

She ended up laughing maniacally. As far as I knew, Lynx was the bad guy Kid had been hunting for who knows how many years. Her desire for revenge must have driven her insane.

"Serge!" urged Glenn.

Serge merely reply with a nod and walked through the gates, his legs looking heavy.

_Still, the drowning dream back then was a little odd…_

"Oi, Seth! Stop spacing out and get yer arse moving!" Kid suddenly cried out.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry," I apologized.

My legs started moving on themselves again and join Serge, Kid and Glenn in a run down a dark corridor. God, not another dark corridor.

_Wait, did Kid just talked to me? And did I talk back?_

That was new. In the previous dreams, the three of them just ignored me like I was never there. And I never said a damn word. Kid must have felt remorse for neglecting me for all these time.

But I didn't actually speak out of my own will just now. My lips moved automatically and my voice just came out as if on cue. Perhaps I was part of the game script now. And that was awesome. I wondered what role I will get to play in the story.

I thought for a second that this might be the Dreamwalker thing again. But the state I was currently in didn't match the theory. I didn't have control over my body. It acted like it had a will of its own. If I did have this ability, now would be a good time to have it awakened. I just sighed mentally when I realized I didn't know how.

It wasn't long before we ran into a pair of Cybots. They were like large, yellow robots, only that they didn't have any head or neck and their faces were on their chests. They had a horn sticking out of their forehead and intimidating spikes protruding out of their huge spherical shoulders. Their eyes flared in red as they stomped their way towards us.

I watched through my own eyes as we took care of the two Cybots. Glenn teamed up with Serge on one of them while Kid and I worked on the other one. It was then I realized I had a long, silver spear in my hands. Sweet!

My body was still moving on its own will, but in a way more athletic than I thought I could do myself. Kid ran up to the Cybot in a flash and stabbed it in the face before it could even react. She then cut upwards while her dagger was still intact with the Cybot's face, splitting a mechanical wound apart.

Sparks of electricity flew between the wound on the Cybot's face as I brought my spear up and charged. The Cybot grabbed his right arm and detached it using his left. It then held the spiked shoulder upwards and swung it at me like a mace. I leapt high over the robot, evading its attack and pierced my spear into the spot where its head should be, finishing it in one strike. Kid and I jumped back as we watched more sparks flew from the machine and it eventually exploded.

Kid smirked at me before proceeding down the corridor. The rest of us followed her.

_Is this really me? Awesome! _

Well, I guessed it made sense anyway if I was able to jump that high since I was a basketball player as well. Too bad I didn't get to see how Serge and Glenn destroyed their Cybot.

After beating some more Cybots in our way, we reached a room with a purple-black crystal pillar in the centre. A glow was emanating from inside the crystal. I watched as Serge reached out his hand and pressed against the pillar. A ripple was formed at the spot where Serge's hand was placed on and soon enough, the pillar of purple-black crystal faded away and vanished.

I knew this was to activate a certain teleporter so we could reach the higher parts of this tower. There were others like this, but this was the last one, meaning we were almost at the peak of Fort Dragonia.

Sure enough, we arrived on top of a circular platform that had the same symbol like the one from the other platform that carried us up earlier: six black spheres circling around another black sphere in the centre, joined by straight lines and were enveloped in a larger circle in purple-black. The only thing different was, the platform was constantly making a ripple in the middle. Maybe it was a sign that it was activated.

We stood patiently on the platform and waited. Before long, the outline of the spheres in the sign on the platform began to emit some sort of magical light. Suddenly, my body was shot upwards in supersonic speed. I passed through the ceiling as if I was an intangible ghost. After a few seconds, my body stopped charging upwards and began to slowly rematerialize. I watched as Serge and the others joined me.

"Oi! What the bloody hell just happened?" Kid thought out loud.

I took a look at our surroundings. We were no longer inside some chamber or corridor. There was nothing but the blue sky above us. I realized we were outside, at the topmost section of Fort Dragonia: a huge chamber that levitated in mid air.

"What are we doin' out here?" Kid asked as she approached an edge and bent down to examine. "Wooooow! Bugger…! We're so high up! Is this thing floatin'?"

"Did it feel like your body passed through the floor just now?" I asked. Again, it was not out of my free will. Whatever, at least I got to talk more before I wake up.

"The platform must have teleported us here," Glenn theorized.

"This sure is some fort…" Kid muttered. She turned around and saw Serge spacing out for some reason. "Hey, Serge! You alright, mate? You've been actin' all weird."

Serge snapped out of his trance at that. He shook his head and spoke for the first time in this dream. "I'm fine."

It turned out he was not mute or telepathic at all. I guessed he just had a reserved nature. It was hard to get people like him to open up. Serge was either perverted or had experienced some sort of trauma in his young childhood. Yeah, let's go with the second one.

"Who knows what's up ahead, so just stay on yer toes, eh!" Kid said. She patted Serge by the shoulder and walked up to a large metal door in brown. The rest of us followed.

Time seemed to have stopped flowing as we stared at the door. Everything went beyond quiet. I could even hear the sound of my heart throbbing and a pulse running through my vein. The atmosphere was intensified all of a sudden. I prepared myself for what I knew was coming.

The door suddenly expanded and was stretched out towards us. It was like space was distorted or something. The door swallowed us, or just me, in whole. After a split second, I was inside a dark chamber. I was on the ground leaning my back against the wall, my hand clutching what looked like a bleeding wound at my stomach. Glenn was unconscious on the floor. I looked around for Serge and Kid.

There they were, in the middle of the chamber. I saw Kid unconscious on the ground. Blood was leaking from a wound at her guts. And Serge was standing before her with a stone cold stare, his gloved hand holding Kid's dagger. Blood dripped from the edge of the dagger as Serge's lips curled into a malicious smile…

"Serge…"

That sounded like Mom's voice. It was morning already? That sucked. Funny that she was calling me Serge instead of Seth. I guessed I should stop playing so much Chrono Cross.

"Good morning, Serge!"

It wasn't my imagination. She was calling me by the name Serge. Her voice sounded clearer this time.

_Yeah, very funny, Mom. _I thought as I rolled to the left. Before I could cover my ears with a pillow, she yelled.

"Come on, sleepy head! Get up!"

My eyes shot open at that immediately. Startled, I jumped on the bed and landed with a soft thud. My ass hurt from that. Was my bed that hard all the time?

What I saw left my mouth completely ajar.

I was not on my own bed but someone else's. It was a wooden bed with a thin mattress lying on it. That explained the thud. I realized I was not in my own room. The room I was in was smaller and its walls were made out of wood. A round carpet in red and yellow covered the floor. The room was decorated further with some potteries and a few pots of fresh green plants. A section of the room had no walls but built like a balcony of sorts. The wind blew in through the balcony, causing a wooden rocking armchair in the room to sway to and fro.

My eyes finally fixated on the woman that yelled just a few minutes ago. A mature-looking woman in pink blouse and a long purple skirt stood before me. She looked like she was in her thirties. A white sash was wrapped around her waist and another smaller red one around her head, covering part of her beautiful brown hair. Usually, woman at her age should have started developing wrinkles or grey hair, but she had none. She wasn't Mom, but she was no stranger to me as well.

She was Serge's mother, Marge.

"Oh, dear, did I wake you up?" Marge asked apologetically. "I'm very sorry. But it's about time you return to your consciousness as well. You have been out cold for three days."

"Out cold? For three days?" I asked out loud in disbelief.

"You don't remember what happen at all, do you? Poor boy. Serge found you almost drowning near the Opassa Beach the other night. Thank goodness you were saved just in time," Marge explained.

I crossed my fingers and placed them on top of my head, my mouth still hanging wide in disbelief. I looked beside me and saw Serge staring at me, sitting on a mattress on the floor. His eyes still looked tired, but I could see that he was concerned.

I uncrossed my fingers and pinched both of my cheeks.

"Ow!"

I could feel pain. I had my consciousness with me, so was my mind and senses. And the place I was in was definitely not reality either.

_I really am a Dreamwalker! And I'm now in the world of Chrono Cross! Awesome!_

I still find it hard to swallow though. But it was the only explanation. There was no way on earth that someone just happened to look like Serge and Marge.

I recalled the events that happened recently. It all began with that corridor. Was that how a Dreamwalker enter into his dream world? Was it some sort of link between reality and my dreams? Then what about those doors?

Again, I remembered Grandpa's story.

"_Dream worlds differ in many ways and never share the same shape."_

And each of those doors was individually different whether by designs, sizes or even smells. That must be it. Each of those doors must have represented a different dream world! Wow, did I have that many dreams? Still, I wasn't very happy with the way I got here. I almost drowned.

But what about earlier on? When I was passing through Fort Dragonia? I remembered that being the dream Serge was supposed to have at the very start of the game instead of me. Did we both have the same dream? But it sounded ridiculous. I meant, having a dream inside a dream.

But I couldn't care less. I was just so excited right now that I was in the world of Chrono Cross. I was speechless. My dream might finally get fulfilled. This time, I might have a real adventure for sure!

Marge turned to Serge. "Good _morning_, Serge," she greeted sarcastically. "You're finally up. The sun's already reached high noon!"

"Really?" Serge stood up from his bed immediately, grabbing his bandana and wrapped it around his head. "Did Leena come by?"

"Yes, she came by to see if you were up, but you, young man, were still off in never-never land. You shouldn't break promises like that. Girls can be pretty scary if you make them angry!" Marge scolded.

_Yeah, especially Leena. Wouldn't want her frying pan on my face. I'll scream in panic and run around in circles if I was you, Serge._

"Oh no…" Serge sighed as he ran a hand over his face.

"Hurry along now and go apologize to her. Don't expect me to stick up for you if Leena ever decides to blow you off," she advised. Before Marge turned to leave, she said to me, "Come and have breakfast, dear. You haven't eaten anything for three days."

I nodded and got off the bed. Before following after Marge, I turned back to face Serge. I thought I'll thank him for saving my life when I fell into the sea.

"You're Serge right?" I asked carefully. Although I was happy to be in the world that I had always dreamed of, I couldn't just go up to every character and said 'Hi'. They'll start asking questions like 'who the hell are you?' or 'how do you know my name?' So, I decided to play dumb and just improvise with the situation. "Thanks for saving my life."

He mustered a weak smile before replying. "You're welcome."

"Let's go and grab some breakfast, shall we?" I asked, trying to be polite.

He nodded as he put away his mattress. "Um…I don't know your name yet," he said.

"Just call me Seth," I answered with a smile. I couldn't believe I just introduced myself. Score!

My stomach growled hungrily as I watched a basket full of freshly-baked bun placed on the table. It turned out they have a little room for both cooking and dining, as well as another room for Marge. I guessed that made more sense anyway since there was nothing in the game except the living room and Serge's room. I wondered where Marge had to sleep in the game. Poor Marge.

The buns were emitting a tempting smell and I just couldn't resist it. I grabbed the first bun and began to eat away.

_Um, it tastes good! _I complimented mentally.

It's hard to believe that this was a dream. Even the food seemed so realistic. I could actually bite it, smell it and even feel it. I guessed the part where I had all my senses with me was correct after all.

"So, Seth. What were you doing in the sea at that time of night?" Marge asked as Serge and I continued eating.

_Ah, crap. _I didn't see this coming. _Got to come up with something fast._

I ran over a few things in the game. Should I say I fell off a ship? No, it had flaws. If I did, the ship would be nearby and Serge would have seen it. Maybe I should tell them that I had a cramp while swimming. But swimming with my clothes on? And in the middle of the night? That just made things weirder…

"I stumbled into a Mama Komodo," I came up with the most legitimate answer I could find. "I panicked and ran. I think it gave up chasing on me at some point. But I wasn't aware of that and decided to jump into the sea to hide myself before realizing that I couldn't swim."

That sounded like a stupid excuse, but at least it was plausible. I watched as Marge and Serge looked at each other. They had got to believe me.

"That's horrible, why were you out there that late? Monsters are more active during night times, don't you know?" Marge continued to ask worriedly.

"Of course I knew. I just wanted to see how Opassa Beach looks like during the night. I thought it will be beautiful over there. Too bad the Mama Komodo caught me sneaking past Lizard Rock," I said. Hey, I was not bad in improvising.

Marge chuckled. "You're just like Serge. He always snuck out during the night just to enjoy the night waves at Opassa."

That explained why Serge was there. I chuckled in response and sighed. "Too bad I didn't get what I wanted."

"Are you from Termina? You don't look like you're from around here."

"Um, yeah. Why?" I lied again.

"Termina's not too far from here. Why don't you stay here for the night? Serge can take you around. I'm sure you two will have a good time," Marge suggested. "If that's okay with you."

Great woman, Marge was. She was so nice.

"I wouldn't mind sharing my room with you," Serge said all of a sudden. I didn't expect him to say something out of his own free will. He was looking at me with a friendly smile and I returned him one.

"That's great! Thanks, Serge!" I exclaimed in excitement. "You've got to show me around."

"I'm afraid he has to do something very important before he can do that. Right, Serge?" Marge asked, eying Serge.

"Yes, meet up with Leena and apologize to her…" Serge groaned.

I thanked Marge for the buns before we headed out of the hut. I took a deep breath as I stepped outside the hut. The air was perfect and the sea breeze was just relaxing, not to mention the sunlight was warm and gentle.

I recapped everything in my mind. Somehow, I became a Dreamwalker and had entered the dream world of my favorite video game. I made friends with Serge and now he's going to take me around and introduce me to Leena and the others. Then, we could go hunt for Komodo scales together if I pestered him enough to let me join him.

_Best dream ever._


End file.
